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With the arrival of the latest Final Fantasy 16 trailer, players are already trying to figure out the identity of the creature that will, presumably, be the game's final boss.
Final Fantasy 16 takes place in a world where a number of individuals, called Dominants, have control over powerful creatures called Eikons. The ranks of the Eikons include creatures like Ifrit, Phoenix, Titan, Garuda, Bahamut, and Odin - legendary figures drawn from real-life mythologies that often appear as summons in the Final Fantasy series.
A big theme in FF16 is a war between these Eikons and the Dominants that control them. The game's logo shows a battle between Ifrit and Phoenix. Near the end of the latest trailer, we see a montage of battle scenes between protagonist Clive Rosfield and various giant creatures, including some Eikons. The narration ends with these lines: "Rise, ye crownless kings. A reckoning is upon you. A war of the Eikons."
The trailer ends with a shot of a mural depicting a group of Eikons locked in combat with each other. A mysterious, muscular figure with a whole lot of wings hovers over the battle. Given the figure's place in the mural - and as the very final image of the trailer - it's clear that it has some major significance to FF16, to the point that this could even be an early preview of the game's final boss.
Naturally, it's all led to a whole lot of speculation among series fans about the creature's identity. Visually, it bears a great deal of resemblance to Safer Sephiroth, the final form of the main villain in Final Fantasy 7. It also looks a lot like Raktapaksa, a raid boss in Final Fantasy 14. Raktapaksa is a fusion of Ifrit and Garuda - a curious coincidence with FF16's logo depicting Ifrit and another birdlike summon, Phoenix.
One of the more compelling arguments is that this creature might be Zodiark. Zodiark first appeared in the Ivalice setting - depicted in Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 12 - as an extremely powerful summon. Zodiark takes a central role in the lore of Final Fantasy 14, though I'll tiptoe around spoilers for the story the MMO took a decade setting up. Given producer Naoki Yoshida's involvement in both FF14 and FF16, and both games' thematic ties with Ivalice, seeing Zodiark in this sort of ultimate role would make a lot of sense.
Of course, saying 'ultimate' in relation to Final Fantasy takes us to Ultima. It's sometimes a creature, sometimes a spell, but it does appear as a summon in the Ivalice games and as the final boss in Final Fantasy 14's Ivalice raid series. It does fit the bill of a winged creature on a sort of throne here, though its original form is feminine, while the FF16 creature we're looking at appears masculine.
Alongside yesterday's trailer, Yoshida said that Final Fantasy 16 development has entered the home stretch, so hopefully there won't be any speed bumps on the road to the game's summer 2023 release.
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